One study has shown if the decision was taken when the woman was aged 18 to 24, she was four times more likely to request reversal than if she was over 30. The likelihood of regret is higher if the person is childless, young or when there is conflict in existing relationships, Dr Uppal explains. 'There have been multiple studies which have looked at regret and remorse after female and male sterilisation procedures, and in a minority of patients, they might have feelings of regret,' the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) fellow says. While there are some exceptional circumstances where sterilisation will be performed in younger people, generally there is a 'significant clinician reluctance' to perform tubal ligation on a woman who hasn't had a baby and is under 30 years of age, explains gynaecologist and doctor Talat Uppal. Why doctors are often reluctant 'One in four woman have regrets if too young' 'Anecdotal evidence is that reversal is easier on the open-ended cases because the testicular end is undamaged,' Marie Stopes lead vasectomist Justin Low says. The end connected to the prostate gland is closed permanently which leads to sterility.

The sperm then die and are reabsorbed by the body. In an open-ended vasectomy, the end connected to the testicles is left open, which allows the sperm to freely escape into the intra-scrotal space.

In a closed-ended vasectomy, the two ends of the vas deferens are sealed. There are two types of vasectomy: closed- and open-ended. Removing the tubes can reduce ovarian cancer risk by up to 40 per cent. This includes the total removal of the fallopian tubes and cannot be reversed.

Guy gets fixed vasectomy